DiscoveryOne™ IDD Team

Sunny Al-Shamma, Ph.D.

President & CEO

Sunny Al-Shamma has more than 20 years of drug discovery experience in the biotech industry, most recently at Arena Pharmaceuticals where he was VP of Discovery Biology. In this role he oversaw the activity of multidisciplinary teams of biologists focused on the discovery of small molecule GPCR ligands for the treatment of Metabolic, CNS, Inflammatory and Cardiovascular diseases. This discovery group had a hand in advancing more than a dozen candidates into preclinical and clinical development in these disease areas. Prior to Arena, Sunny was Director of Biology at Maxia Pharmaceuticals where he focused on the discovery and development of small molecule nuclear receptor ligands and kinase/phosphatase modulators for the treatment of metabolic diseases and cancer. Sunny was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles, and has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Behavior from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Carol Austin

Project Management/Drug Discovery

Based in the U.K., Carol is our Director of Drug Discovery Project Management. Carol has a cell biology background with over 20 years of small molecule preclinical drug discovery expertise. She has successfully project managed multisite integrated drug discovery projects across many therapeutic areas (from infectious diseases to neurodegeneration) and a range of biological targets (from GPCRs to PPlase enzymes). Carol previously headed the Cell Culture and Molecular Biology Laboratory at the James Black Foundation, where her involvement in drug discovery programs based on GPCR targets led to a number of ligands entering Phase 1 clinical trials. She then went on to established the biology and ADME screening capabilities at Selcia Ltd in 2008, which was acquired by Eurofins in 2018.
 
Carol has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of London and undertook post-doctoral research at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now CRUK), London. She is named on more than 20 peer reviewed papers and patents.

Andrew Grottick, Ph.D.

PVice President, in vivo Pharmacology

Andy Grottick has 20 years of drug discovery experience in the pharmaceutical industry in both Europe and the US, most recently at Arena Pharmaceuticals in San Diego as the Head of CNS Drug Discovery. In this role he was the in vivo pharmacology lead on the 5-HT2C agonist project which produced Belviq, working on the project from first dosing in vivo through regulatory approval in the US. Andy worked collaboratively on projects with other companies, including Eli Lilly and Taisho, and led and supported a number of other programs into preclinical and clinical development. This included orphan GPCR targets, one of which was partnered with a major pharmaceutical company. Prior to Arena, Andy worked in the CNS department at Hoffman-La Roche in Basel, Switzerland.
 
Andy trained as a behavioral pharmacologist in London, studying for his Ph.D. at both London Guildhall University and the UCL Institute of Neurology in Queen’s Square, London.

Alastair King

Oncology, Cell Signaling, OncoPanel Expertise

Alastair has over 20 years of scientific research experience, with a specific focus on drug discovery in the oncology and inflammation therapeutic areas, and use of cellular assays to profile and advance drug leads. He has held previous roles at Indiana University, SmithKline Beecham, GlaxoSmithKline, and Johnson & Johnson, and is currently the Scientific Director for the OncoPanel and Biomarker Services cellular phenotypic platforms at Eurofins Discovery. Alastair has deep experience with all stages of drug discovery from target validation and prioritization, through supporting high-throughput screening campaigns, hit-to-lead chemistry, and lead optimization, to the generation of IND packages for clinical entry. He has provided leadership for international strategic initiatives and drug discovery teams, including that which discovered dabrafenib (Tafinlar®), and has coordinated due diligence studies on external assets for in-licensing and subsequent clinical development (e.g. trametinib/Mekinist®). Alastair received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Southampton, is an AACR member, and has received numerous awards in recognition of his work.

Jane Lamerdin

GPCR Biology, Profiling and Assay Development

Jane is a Director of R&D at Eurofins DiscoverX and currently oversees the development of novel cell-based assays for discovery through lot release for diverse therapeutic areas, as well as implementation of new technologies, such as CRISPR. She has nearly 20 years of industry experience developing cell-based assays to support client drug discovery campaigns, as well as high throughput, systems biology research. Prior to joining Eurofins DiscoverX, she was Executive Director of R&D at Odyssey Thera, where she directed the cell biology and bioinformatics teams that developed hundreds of high content cell-based assays utilized for high throughput compound profiling to support early hit-to-lead programs in oncology and inflammation therapeutic areas for multiple large pharma clients (as well as an EPA ToxCast contract). Jane received her B.S. and Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of California at Davis, focusing on DNA repair proteins involved in Fanconi’s anemia.

Celine Legros

Screening/Assay Development Expertise

Celine is a Drug Discovery Partnership Director at Eurofins Discovery. Prior to joining Eurofins, Celine held the position of Project Leader in the Screening Department at Institut de Recherché Servier, France, where she was responsible for designing and running screening cascades from Target to Hit/HTS through to Lead Optimization. In close collaboration with chemistry and biophysics teams, Celine led screening projects in neuroscience, cardiovascular & metabolic diseases, immune-inflammation and oncology; developing and running assays on GPCRs, transcription factors, PPi, kinases, Ser-hydrolases and Tyr-kinase receptors, combining scientific relevance with robotics, data quality and throughput. Celine received her Ph.D. in Animal Physiology (melatonin circanual rhythm and melatonin receptors), from the University of Tours, France, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship within the Blood Brain Barrier Group at King’s College London, UK.

Lynn Miesel

Antibacterial Drug Discovery Expertise

Lynn is the Senior Technical Director at Eurofins Pharmacology Discovery Services and collaborates with Business Development and Operations to conduct efficacy studies for international infectious disease clients. She applies more than 14 years of industry experience in anti-infectives to lead projects that use in vitro and in vivo microbiology assays to assess the efficacy of novel antibacterial and antifungal agents. Lynn’s supervisory and leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry includes expertise in genetics, biochemistry, microbiology, pharmacology, and infectious diseases drug discovery. She has extensive experience in project design and leadership, including international external collaborations. Prior to her role at Eurofins, Lynn worked for the Merck Research Laboratories as the Biology Collaboration Lead for infectious disease research. While there, she designed and managed projects for target validation, screening, lead identification and lead optimization programs for antimicrobial and antiviral programs. Lynn served on Merck’s anti-infectives licensing review committee and currently serves as an ad hoc grant reviewer for the National Institutes of Health. She has coauthored 29 peer-reviewed publications and 25+ meeting abstracts.

Paul Ratcliffe

Head of DiscoveryOne

Paul, our Head of DiscoveryOne, is an expert in drug discovery and medicinal chemistry with extensive expertise across multiple therapeutic areas including neuroscience, inflammation, cardiovascular and pain. During almost 20 years working in the Biopharmaceutical Industry with Merck, Schering-Plough, Organon Laboratories and Grünenthal, he has established, led and driven a portfolio of international projects, as well as developing complimentary global collaborative partnerships with Biotechs, CROs and Academic institutes. He is experienced across a range of modalities and biological targets (GPCR‘s, Kinases, Enzymes, Ion channels and NHR‘s) culminating in a track record of project achievement throughout research and early development phases, delivering development candidates and IND’s across a range of acute and chronic disease states. He has held responsibility for a sizable research organization spanning HTS/Compound Logistics, Analytical, Medicinal, Synthetic and Computational Chemistry, Cellular, Molecular and Translational Biology as well as in vivo Pharmacology and Biomarker development. He is recognized as an innovative, enthusiastic and visionary manager capable of building positive team climates, with strong motivational and change management skills. Paul has a PhD in Chemistry from Strathclyde University and is named on over 40 peer reviewed papers, chapters and patents.

Carleton Sage, Ph.D.

Vice President, Computational Sciences

Carleton Sage has 19 years of drug discovery experience in the biotech industry, most recently at Arena Pharmaceuticals where he was Research Fellow in Computational Systems. He developed and applied novel computational approaches to internal and partnered drug discovery and design projects. These projects delivered more than a dozen molecules into preclinical and clinical development in the areas of Metabolism, CNS, Inflammation and Cardiovascular disease. Prior to Arena, he was Group Leader of Computational Sciences, at Lion Bioscience where he led teams supporting drug discovery projects and developing novel approaches to predicting ADME properties of molecules. Prior to Lion, he was the 5th employee at MetaXen where he ran the IT department, provided computational support to drug discovery projects and contributed to the development of novel algorithms for the prediction of ADME properties. Carleton trained as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco, and has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Graeme Semple, Ph.D.

Vice President, Chemistry

Graeme Semple has more than 26 years of drug discovery experience in the pharmaceutical industry, both in biotech and big pharma, most recently at Arena Pharmaceuticals where he was VP of Discovery Chemistry and oversaw medicinal chemistry and early development projects. More than a dozen of these projects delivered candidates into preclinical and clinical development in the areas of Metabolism, CNS, Inflammation and Cardiovascular disease. Prior to Arena, he was a Disease Area Chemist at AstraZeneca, Mölndal, Sweden, where he initiated a number of early stage medicinal chemistry projects in the GI area. Prior to AstraZeneca, he was Head of Chemistry at Ferring Research Institute, Southampton, U.K., where he led chemistry groups contributing to multi-national collaborative projects that delivered clinical candidates in the areas of cardiovascular, GI and urology. He is a co-inventor of the GnRH antagonist drug Firmagon® (Degarelix) which has been approved in 74 countries. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Universities of Bath and Oxford, UK and has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Warwick, UK.